1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to automotive seats, and more particularly to automotive rear seats of a type which has a seat belt buckle holder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A seat belt has been used for protecting a seat occupant against the shock of vehicle collision. However, when a seat occupant is seated on a seat without using the seat belt, the seat belt, particularly, the buckle thereof, which is bulky in construction, becomes an obstacle to the seat occupant.
In order to clarify this drawback, one of conventional automotive seats of the above-mentioned type will be outlined with reference to FIG. 5 of the accompanying drawings.
In FIG. 5, designated by numeral 10 is an automotive rear seat which includes a seat cushion 12 and two abreast arranged seatbacks 14. The rear seat 10 illustrated has two sets of seat belt assemblies, each including a tongue-mounted belt part 16a and a buckle-mounted belt part 16b. Each belt part 16a or 16b has one end (not shown) fixed to a vehicle floor and comes out through the boundary portion between the seat cushion 12 and each seatback 14, as shown. The buckle 20 has a male member 22, and each seatback 14 has at its front lower portion a female member 24. The male and female members 22 and 24 are engageable with each other in a snap action manner. Thus, when the seat belt is not in use, the bulky buckle 20 can be fastened to the seatback 14. With this, undesired free movement of the bulky buckle 20 is suppressed.
However, the seat has the following drawbacks.
When, with the buckle 20 being fastened to the seatback 14, the seat occupant sits on the seat and inclines rearward to take a proper sitting position, his or her back is forced to abut against the bulky buckle 20 on the seatback 14. This causes him or her to feel uncomfortable.
Furthermore, due to the presence of the buckle 20 on the seatback 14, the external appearance of the seatback 14 is degraded.